Changeable sign.



W. C. GRANT.

QHANGEABLE SIGN. APPLICATION FILED )UNE 30.19ll.

3.91639750@ l Patented Dec. 14, 1915.

n enanas .ie-.arena orare-n.

WILLIS c. GRANTx oF ASHTABULA, orme/ CHANGEABLE SIGN'.

To all whomt't may concern: K

Be it known that I, VILLIS C. GRANT, a citizen ofthe United States, andresident of Ashtabula, in the county of Ashtabula and State of Ohio,have -invented certain new and useful Improvements in Changeable Signs,of which I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same. Y

The objects Vof the invention are to provide a sign in which theletters, figures, or other characters are changeable and are preferablyheld upon loosely conned bars or supports, so that the letters canreadily be attached to and removed therefrom. The

letters are also attached to the bars by means of an elastic grippingpressure upon the outer sides thereof. lThe bars and letters are formedin predetermined regular proporf tioned relative sizes, so that the sameseries of bars will be adapted to support letters of more than one sizeand the letters can be arranged in any order desired' to forni4 words tocompose a sign or advertisement and can be used if desired in severalsizes te give variety to the composition of the sign.

The invention furtherlcomprises the combinationl and arrangement ofparts and constructionl of details as hereinafter described, shown inthe accompanying drawings and specifically pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is an elevation of a sign, showingthe frame,

bars and removable letters thereon; Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinalsection therethrough; Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectiontherethrough; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the letters; Fig. 5is a trans-.

verse section of a bar and the means for attaching the bar to the edgeof a shelf'; Fig. 6 is an enlarged transverse section of someA of thebars showing/letter plates; and Fig. 7 a triangular bar. Fig. 8 shows amodified form of letter pate.

In these views 1 is a frame, 2, 2, are bars `preferably formed of sheetmetal, ,which rest lightly upon each other inthe frame, and are confinedelastically by means of the shoulder', and sheet metal plates 4, 4,fastened by means of screws 5, 5`.

The letters or characters of any 'kind are printed or painted or stampedupon thin'.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patmljgdl DQ@ 141., 119115; IApplicatic'n ledd'uue 30, 1911. Serial No. 636,304. i l

spring metal letter plates, A, A., the upper and lower ends of which areturned backward at B, B far enough to exert a spring gripping eifectupon .the sides of the -bar.

To increase the gripping effect in retaining the letter plates inposition each backwardly turned edge is indented at b,- b, vat exactly ethe points which just engage the inner edges of the bar, and by springaction make it difficult to remove the letter plate therefrom. It would'not ordinarily be possible to remove thel letter plate from the bar byinserting a. nail or a tool underneath the center of theletter plate,since the union is so close, hence the letter plates can not be pickedoff by school boys or mischievous persons and,4

are protected from being stolen, or more injury. To facilitate` removingthem when desired the outer corners of the bars are given a widecurvature at C and the angles of the letter plates with the integralrearwardly bent vportions are more acute thus Y plates are suiii'cientto retain them. The y projections can sometimes be dispensed With sincethe holding members are turned slightly inwardas well as backward so asto exert a decided spring pressure upon the bars. .These 'letter plates'are not attached by sliding them along the bars but can be attached atany point and hence are' more easily placed Where required.

" The bars are preferably of the shape shown in cross section and forconvenience lcan be made of channel shape, of sheet metal, and with wellrounded corners as described. The bars shown in Fig. 7 have spreadingsides, so that the projections b easily grip them. In Fig. 5 isshown-means for attaching one of the bars `upon which letter platescan'be mounted on the, edgesof -a shelf or to a Wall.; Here a bracket ori brackets E are formed of sheet metal and the arms F and G are formedintegrally therein, and one of them G, turned back sothat'theextremitiesof the arms support the backwardly turned edges of the bar.

'This device is particularly convenientfor attachment to the edges ofshelves upon which goods are exposed for sale so that Lthe goods can beeasily located and prices can be displayed in convenient proximity tothe goods. v

Having described the invention what I claini as new and desire to secureby yLetters Patent is:

1. The combination with a bar, having a front face and inwardlyextending sides, and rounded front edges, of a letter plate resilientlyattached thereto, said plate provided with rearwardly and inwardlyextended integral holding portions, the outer corners of said plate bentat a more acute angle than the angles of the front corners of said barproviding openings for the insertion of a lifting tool.

2. The combination with a bar having .rearwardly and inwardly extendedsides, of a letter plate provided with integral rearwardly extendingresilient holding portions,

W. C. GRANT.

lnA presence of- WM. M. MoNRoE, P. BREDEL.

